London Design Biennale

2018

Edited by: Dana Al Qottob 

London Design Biennale sees some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious designers, innovators and curators gather in the capital to show how design impacts our very being and every aspect of our lives.

In response to this years theme” The Emotional States” , participants from six continents are exhibiting engaging and interactive design installations across Somerset House. In an exhibition of outstanding ideas and creativity, international design teams are illustrating how design can challenge, delight, educate and surprise.

Here we are featuring the 5 participating countries from the Arab region including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Egypt

Modernist Indignation , winner of The Most Outstanding Overall Contribution in LDB’18 

Modernist Indignation, curated by Mohamed El-Shahed, is an elegy for a rapidly disappearing culture, seen through the prism of the first Arabic design magazine.

Read more on  Mohamed El-Shahed’s Modernist Indignation here.

UAE

Time is Subjective

Time is Subjective relates to pride. It captures movement and growth. It simultaneously addresses the history of a nation, whilst also hinting at its future. UAE will present an installation that looks directly at time and its personal meaning to the UAE as a country.

The passing of time can sometimes feel so tactile, something you can almost touch. In youth, a year appears like forever, and as you grow a decade passes in a click. The UAE is a young country at only 46 years of age. As a country always in motion, the UAE is proud in its ability to grow faster than any other nation and achieve milestones no one thought possible. The speed of time is a subjective, ever-changing and even controllable element.

Credits:

Design team: Tinkah

Designers: Reem Al Ghaith, Kholoud Sharafi, Carlos Gris, Hamza Al Omari, Claudia Rivera

Supporting Bodies: Office of Public & Cultural Diplomacy and UAE Embassy in the UK.

Saudi Arabia

Being and Existence

Lulwah Al Homoud’s intricate geometric patterns for Being and Existence are based on the Arabic alphabet, using the forms of language to communicate a positive emotional experience.

Saudi Arabia’s installation, Being and Existence, explores the relationship between language and our emotional state, and in particular the effect of different forms of language on the messages we communicate.

Artist Lulwah Al Homoud has developed an abstract form of language, evolved from the Arabic alphabet and taking the form of a geometric pattern – an intricate, symmetrical web of fine lines and symbols. This graphic work stems from her research into Arabic calligraphy and Islamic geometry, which she undertook as part of her MA from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design – the first Saudi to achieve this distinction. Al Homoud explored the rhythmic “codes” and symmetries of the Arabic alphabet and then used these as the basis for geometrical designs. The process combines the mathematical and the emotional, the realms of logic and language.

Credits:

Designer: Lulwah Al Homoud

Supporting Body: King Abdulaziz Centre, Saudi Arabia

Lebanon

The Silent Room

The Silent Room advocates silence as a form of resistance, an act of cleansing needed to reclaim ownership of our thoughts and ourselves.

It is a public space where citizens are insulated from outside noise and other sensorial aggressions.

Many of us today live in urban environments where we are subject to a constant flux of information, both visual and sonic. Silence is increasingly a luxury for the most privileged – data mapping has shown that the poorest parts of the city are the worst affected by noise pollution. The Silent Room responds to this context: it provides a cocoon-like space, isolated from the city’s noise, for all citizens, regardless of background or level of privilege. It makes silence and rest available to everyone.

Credits:

Designer: Nathalie Harb

Design Team: In collaboration with BÜF architecture and 21dB

Supporting Bodies: Ministry of Culture, Beirut design week, Bespoke Brick, Bute Fabrics, Mason Navarro Pledge, Opsis Design, La Paloma

Qatar

The State of You

Qatar’s entry will present a hybrid between the old and the new, through the use of materials and cultural rituals. The installation will question how materials play a role in change, in interfering with traditions, and in becoming part of traditions by directly involving the visitor.

Evoking a sense of nostalgia, the design will create zones of isolation and question the ideals of “home” and how a city can change. How much change can a familiar place take to still remain home? Can we make somewhere familiar again?

Credits:

Designer: Aisha Nasser Al-Sowaidi

Supporting body: Qatar Museums

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